The Screening…

July 31, 2007 by me.

It’s been a week since our screening, so I thought I’d bring you all up to date on how it went. Friday night, there were about half as many people for the 10:30pm screening as the 8:45pm, but Saturday the number of people were the same for both. Even better, of the people who attended the 10:30, at least a third of the audience was made up of Asian Americans — half of whom I’d never met before in my life (so word of mouth and the curiosity factor was good for “Wingmen”)..!

Well and good. The first pilot ran and then it was time for our pilot. The teaser (a two-minute clip meant to air before the first commercial) aired — and then two minutes into the screening, we experienced massive technical difficulties! First we lost sound, then we lost synchronization, then it stopped and then it stopped again. Finally, it jumped and by the time everything got matched up, we’d lost about 45-50 seconds of screen time (and the set-up for our story). So our audience was confused by the disruption and we didn’t win them back for 10 minutes — an eternity when you consider our pilot was 30 minutes long. So yeah, it was a real-life “Singing in the Rain” moment (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I suggest you rent the movie)..!

My one consolation (if you could call it that) was that the pilot following us (the last one to be screened for the Competition) got it worse than us. Way worse. Because at one point it jumped so far ahead they had to play it in reverse to return it to the story..! So yes, I was thinking, “At least we weren’t the only ones..!”

Anyway, right now we’re waiting to hear from the organizer of the Competition who’s to hear from the projectionist about what happened, the night of the screening. Should be interesting, I think…

Posted in Chicago, Asian American men, Television, Asian Cinema, Wingmen | No Comments »